Perry says he can compete past Iowa but Santorum, Bachmann can’t

Gov. Rick Perry will joined on the eve of the Iowa caucuses by high-profile supporters from Texas and the nation in his push to get a showing that will give his campaign a chance.

Backers who’ll travel with him today, according to his campaign, include Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Sam Brownback of Kansas; businessman and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes; Congressmen Sam Graves of Missouri and Mick Mulvaney from South Carolina; former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, the only survivor of a 2005 Afghanistan battle; Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst; Comptroller Susan Combs; and country singer Larry Gatlin.

Perry — who hits Sioux City and Carroll before winding up at an evening rally in Perry, Iowa == says his “strike force” of hundreds of volunteers gives him a better ground game here than anyone else. He said he’s got more than 1,500 precinct captains. (There will be more than 1,700 caucuses.) His communications director, Ray Sullivan, said Sunday that volunteers had made 9,100 calls over the last few days.

Asked on Fox News this morning about those who say one should drop out to allow evangelical support to coalesce around a Mitt Romney alternative, Perry said:

“I agree that Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann don’t have a national organization in place, nor the fundraising abilty to go forward out of Iowa. I’m the only one that actually has that ability. We’ll be going across the country – South Carolina, Florida, Nevada. The evangelical vote out there, they know which one of these candidates can perform long term. And we’re it.”

Perry also was asked again about acid remarks about his campaign preparation made by unnamed insiders in a Politico article. He said he had an interview with Politico and had asked the organization to “name the name, and they couldn’t do it …That tells me they’re listening to rumor and innuendo.”

He called it a “total inside-the-Beltway story” and contended his campaign is working smoothly.

“I don’’t know where Politico gets their information but the bottom line is they don’t have any sources so I kind of put that off into the wasted-time category,” Perry said.